Digital Well-Being in Schools Still Lacks Clear Definition, Review Finds

The review, conducted by researchers at Dublin City University and published in Frontiers in Education, analysed 50 peer-reviewed articles published between 2020 and 2025, following PRISMA guidelines across six academic databases. The authors, Peter Tiernan, Enda Donlon and Mahmoud Hamash of the DCU Centre for AI and Digital Futures in Education, applied deductive thematic analysis to examine how digital well-being is defined, measured and applied in educational settings. Their central finding is that the field has not converged on a shared understanding.

Instead, the literature positions digital well-being in three distinct ways: as an outcome affecting students and teachers, as a multidimensional construct spanning emotional, cognitive, social and behavioural dimensions, and as a competence closely tied to digital literacy. The review found that technology's effects on well-being in schools were both positive and negative. The evidence base did not support a simple verdict that digital media is beneficial or detrimental; rather, outcomes varied across the studies reviewed.

Perhaps the most striking gap the authors identified is the scarcity of practical interventions in schools. Despite a growing body of research describing the effects of digital media on well-being, concrete programmes and strategies implemented in educational settings remain rare in the published literature. The review therefore documents a field that is rich in description but thin in tested responses.

The analysis also highlighted the roles of key stakeholders. Educators, school leaders and parents emerged as pivotal actors in shaping healthy digital engagement, and the review considered implementation challenges and relevant policy frameworks alongside student and teacher perspectives. The authors argue that effective approaches must be holistic, inclusive and informed by these stakeholders rather than imposed top-down.

By covering both primary and post-primary education across diverse geographical contexts, the review offers a broad map of the field rather than a narrow regional picture. Its scope included how students and teachers interact with digital media, the resulting impacts on well-being, and the strategies used to promote healthier engagement in schools, alongside the perspectives of the wider community around them. The review's keywords, including cyber safety, cyber wellness, digital health and digital well-being, reflect the overlapping vocabularies that complicate the field.

The authors received the article in August 2026 and accepted it in October 2026, and the final formatted version is scheduled for publication. As an open-access article under a Creative Commons Attribution licence, the full analysis will be freely available to educators and researchers. For schools navigating rapid technological change, the review's message is measured: the evidence shows varied effects and no settled definition, and the urgent need is for stakeholder-informed strategies that move beyond describing digital well-being to actively supporting it in classrooms.

Subject of Research: Digital well-being in primary and post-primary education

Article Title: Digital well-being in educational contexts: a systematic review of digital media use, effects, strategies, and stakeholder perspectives

Article References: Tiernan, P., Donlon, E., & Hamash, M. (2026). Digital Well-Being in Educational Contexts: A Systematic Review of Digital Media Use, Effects, Strategies, and Stakeholder Perspectives. Frontiers in Education, 11, 1963041. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1963041

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2026.1963041

Keywords: digital well-being, education, systematic review, digital media, digital literacy, students, teachers, school policy, PRISMA, mental health, Digital, well-being